4 Tactics to Double Your eCommerce Profits (without More Traffic)

According to Big Commerce, eCommerce sites convert an average of 1% to 2% of their traffic. And most eCommerce sites convert at 1% or less. So you might want to push the conversion needle by 2% to 4%.

If your site currently converts in the neighborhood of 1%, these conversion-boosting tactics will help. These tactics prove to grow your conversions without requiring more site traffic.

Let’s dive in.

Offer Free Shipping

As much as 93% of a survey’s respondents said they’ll buy more products if they’re offered free shipping. And the study found out that the number one cause of cart abandonment is shipping costs.

In another study, 47% of respondents said they’ll abandon their cart if free shipping isn’t an option in their checkout.

In Chris Anderson’s book, Free, he noted that Amazon saw their sales climb in all countries when they introduced free shipping. But France didn’t show any significant increase at the time because Amazon lowered shipping to 20 cents instead of giving it free. Although 20 cents was cheap, it couldn’t influence buyers as much as free shipping. As soon as Amazon removed shipping in France, sales skyrocketed.

A study by E-tailing showed that free shipping is the number one factor that buyers consider when purchasing. In fact, as much as 73% of shoppers said it’s “critical” to their buying decision. Nordstrom offers free shipping on all purchases.

Engage with Product Videos

And no, you don’t have to create these content yourself. You can ask to get testimonial videos of your most excited customers. And you can also borrow Apple’s “unboxing” idea; ask your users for videos showing them unwrapping or using any of your products they love.

For a more robust video library, you can have your team shoot videos that show your product’s benefits, features, or demo. You can also create these videos yourself. You can even use a smartphone for this purpose.

Invite Reviews and Show Them Off on Your Site

A whopping 61% of your visitors read reviews before they buy! So if you’re not inviting your best customers to give reviews, then you’re leaving plenty of money on the table. And you’ll never double your eCommerce profits.

Reduce Cart Abandonment to Double Your eCommerce Profits

No, people don’t always abandon carts just because you don’t have free shipping. In fact, 88% of shoppers report they’ve left their cart without completing a purchase at least once. Other reasons for cart abandonment include

Make sure your eCommerce platform has an automated email trigger for instant cart abandonment notification. So you want to be collecting emails early when a customer begins their shopping.

Send one or two follow up emails after the first. And if you can, throw in a discount code to encourage the purchase. You should test your campaign’s effectiveness-email open rate, click through rate and rate of conversion. These data helps you track, tweak and know your progress.

Wrapping It Up

To double your eCommerce profits, the 80/20 rule would be to pursue cart abandonment. Start by offering free shipping and using the cart abandonment recovery tactic discussed in #4 above. If you can reduce your cart abandonment you’d have more sales from people who already want to buy.

Going after cart abandonment is both a low hanging fruit and a high-impact area to pursue. Even reviews and videos can help remove doubt, which is also a cause of cart abandonment.